Ensuring Seniors' Access to Quality Care Act This bill repeals certain restrictions under Medicare and Medicaid that prohibit the approval of nurse-aide training and competency evaluation programs in skilled nursing facilities that have been subject to specified regulatory actions (e.g., civil penalties) for substandard quality of care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must still disapprove such programs for up to two years; however, the CMS must rescind the disapproval upon completion of corrective action and may require additional oversight of the program for purposes of rescission. The bill also allows Medicaid and Medicare providers (e.g., skilled nursing facilities) to access, through the National Practitioner Data Bank, disciplinary information for affiliated physicians and other health care practitioners, as reported by state licensing authorities.
Critical Minerals Classification Improvement Act of 2022 This bill permits the inclusion of fuel minerals (e.g., uranium) on a list of mineral commodities that are critical to the U.S. economy and national security. (Fuel minerals are currently excluded from the list.) Additionally, the U.S. Geological Survey must revise the list to add critical fuel minerals if it determines the revisions are necessary.
Military Spouse Hiring Act This bill expands the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to include the hiring of a qualified military spouse. (The WOTC permits employers who hire individuals who are members of a targeted group such as qualified veterans, ex-felons, or long-term unemployment recipients to claim a tax credit equal to a portion of the wages paid to those individuals.) A qualified military spouse is any individual who is certified by the designated local agency as being (as of the hiring date) a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces.
Safe Schools Act This bill allows state and local educational agencies to use certain COVID-19 emergency relief funds to carry out school security measures (e.g., trainings and security assessments).
Keep Our Communities Safe Act of 2022 This bill revises provisions related to the authority of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain aliens. DHS may detain an alien pending a removal decision for any length of time until the alien is subject to a final removal order. DHS must detain certain aliens, such as those convicted of an aggravated felony, beyond certain time limits for detaining an alien. The authority of the Department of Justice to review DHS custody decisions concerning an alien awaiting a removal decision shall be limited to whether the alien may be detained, released on bond, or released with no bond. DHS may release such an alien on bond only if the alien is not a flight risk or risk to the community. For an alien subject to a removal order, DHS may extend the 90-day removal period (generally the window in which DHS has to remove an alien after a final order of removal) in certain instances, such as when the alien's removal is stayed during an appeal. DHS may continue to detain an alien beyond the removal period and any removal period extensions. DHS shall periodically certify a justification for detaining an alien beyond the removal period. DHS shall establish a detention review process for aliens who (1) have made all reasonable efforts to comply with a removal order, and (2) are not subject to mandatory detention. DHS shall use the review process to determine whether an alien should be detained or released with conditions.
Keeping Russia's Energy and Military Liable for Invading its Neighbors Act or the KREMLIN Act This bill temporarily prohibits federal agencies from contracting with persons that have business operations with the government of Russia or with fossil fuel companies that operate there, with exceptions where necessary to provide humanitarian assistance or disaster relief or where vital to U.S. national security interests. The bill terminates the prohibition when the President submits to specified congressional committees a written certification determining that Russia has reached an agreement relating to the withdrawal of Russian forces and cessation of military hostilities that is accepted by the Ukrainian government, poses no immediate military threat of aggression to any North Atlantic Treaty Organization member, and recognizes the right of the people of Ukraine to independently and freely choose their own government.
RECA Extension Act of 2022 This bill extends a program that compensates individuals who were exposed to radiation from atomic weapons testing or uranium mining or processing and who subsequently developed specified cancers or other medical conditions. The bill terminates the program two years after the bill's enactment.
Helping Open Underutilized Space to Ensure Shelter Act of 2022 or the HOUSES Act of 2022 This bill authorizes the sale of certain federal land to states and units of local government for projects to provide housing. Specifically, the bill authorizes a state or unit of local government to nominate, for consideration for conveyance by the Department of the Interior, one or more tracts of public lands within the boundary of the state or unit of local government to carry out an eligible project to provide housing. Interior may not offer to convey to a unit of local government such a tract until it receives from the governor of the state approval for the conveyance. Interior may not convey to a state or unit of local government such a tract until the state or unit of local government has in effect any ordinances, statutes, or regulations that are necessary to ensure compliance with the project proposal.
Black Hills Forest Protection and Jobs Preservation Act of 2022 This bill provides for vegetation management projects and timber production projects on certain National Forest System lands in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The bill directs the Forest Service to issue one or more decisions using expedited authorities for compliance with environmental review requirements to carry out vegetation management projects on land in the Black Hills National Forest. Furthermore, the Forest Service shall categorize the Black Hills National Forest and the Bighorn National Forest as being very high priority for ecological restoration that involves vegetation removal. The Forest Service must also use specified amounts made available for forest thinning and timber harvesting for timber production in the Bighorn National Forest, the Custer Gallatin National Forest, and the Black Hills National Forest. In carrying out such timber production, the Forest Service shall use, to the extent practicable, the categorical exclusion for certain forest management activities and specified emergency action authority. A vegetation management or timber production project carried out under this bill shall not be subject to judicial review. Such a project may not be carried out on (1) a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System, or (2) an inventoried roadless area.
United States Army Rangers Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill provides for the award of a single Congressional Gold Medal to the U.S. Army Rangers Veterans of World War II in recognition of their dedicated service during World War II.
Wyoming Public Lands Initiative Act of 2021 This bill designates specified wilderness study areas, special management areas, a National Conservation Area, and other areas in Wyoming. The bill designates the following areas as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: certain land within the Encampment River Canyon Wilderness Study Area, to be known as the Encampment River Canyon Wilderness; certain land within the Prospect Mountain Wilderness Study Area, to be known as the Prospect Mountain Wilderness; certain land within the Sweetwater Canyon Wilderness Study Area, to be known as the Upper Sweetwater Canyon Wilderness and the Lower Sweetwater Canyon Wilderness; and certain land within the Bobcat Draw Wilderness Study Area, to be known as the Bobcat Draw Wilderness. The bill designates the following special management areas: Bennett Mountains, Black Cat, Sweetwater Rocks, and Cedar Mountain. The Bureau of Land Management shall divide the land within the Dubois Badlands Wilderness Study Area into the Dubois Motorized Recreation Area and the Dubois Badlands National Conservation Area, separating the two with a fence. The bill designates Fortification Creek, Fraker Mountain, and North Fork as management areas.
Resiliency for Ranching and Natural Conservation Health Act This bill makes vacant grazing allotments temporarily available to holders of grazing permits or leases after a natural disaster. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) shall make available to the holder of a grazing permit or lease issued by either Interior or USDA the temporary use of a vacant grazing allotment if one or more grazing allotments covered by the grazing permit or lease of the holder are temporarily unusable because of resource conditions from unforeseen natural events or disasters (including an extreme weather event, drought, wildfire, infestation, or blight). The bill allows investment of amounts in the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The bill allocates income generated by that investment to rangeland improvement projects and enhancing, expanding, or improving access to public lands or National Forest System land to benefit hunting and recreation activities. The bill increases the maximum duration of grazing permits and leases from 10 years to 20 years.
